I’ve been pulling my hair out lately—my shop’s product pics are all vertical, but I need horizontal banners for my homepage. Cropping would cut off the products, so I tried AI image stretchers… and finally found ones that don’t make my photos look wonky! Here’s my real-life test notes:
The MVP: HitPaw FotorPea (desktop) This one’s a game-changer! It has this new “nano banana model” that stretches images naturally—no weird distorted edges. I uploaded a dress pic, expanded the background to fit a banner, and it even filled in missing details (like matching the fabric pattern!). Batch-processed 10 pics in 5 mins, no watermarks. Total lifesaver for e-commerce!
Fotor (online/phone) Super easy for quick fixes—drag the edges to stretch, or type custom dimensions. Good for social media (fixed my Instagram Reel cover in 2 clicks!). But the free version limits how much you can stretch, and you need to pay for full access.
PineTools (free online) Lightweight and fast—great for one-off edits. Just upload, type new width/height, and hit “resize.” It keeps details sharp, but downside: no real-time preview, so you have to guess a bit before downloading.
BatchTools (online) If you have tons of pics (like me with product catalogs), this is perfect. Stretches multiple photos at once, works with GIFs/PNGs/JPGs. Only con: no preview—you have to trust the process, but it worked for my basic stretches.
Extra hack: Upscale after stretching! I stretched a pic too much and it got a little fuzzy—so I used HitPaw’s “Upscale Model” to sharpen it back up. Now it looks crisp enough for a poster! No manual tweaks needed, just one click.
Honestly, I thought stretching pics without blur was impossible—until AI proved me wrong. HitPaw FotorPea is my go-to now, but PineTools is great for free quick fixes. Has anyone else struggled with image aspect ratios?